Talia Sandoval (Miranda Rae Mayo)

Talia was introduced in season 5 as the new cook at The Brew. She and Emily initially got off on the wrong foot but eventually formed a friendship. Soon, Emily began receiving mixed signals from Talia, despite past comments about male character Ezra that indicated she was straigt. One night they were both working late and Talia revealed that she had feelings for Emily and only mentioned Ezra to find out her sexual orientation. From then on they began a relationship and all was well until Emily saw Talia’s file, which listed her surname as Mendoza. Talia had previously introduced herself as Sandoval.

Curious, Emily asked Ezra about it and he told her that Talia’s maiden name was Sandoval and her married name was Mendoza. Emily confronted Talia about her marriage, and she explained that her husband, Eric, was aware that Talia was interested in women and that they loved each other but “no longer in that way”.

In the following episode, Talia’s husband came looking for her. He told Emily he was okay with them “experimenting” because he knew he would get to love Talia forever. Emily angrily broke off the relationship because “there are three people in the relationship and [Talia] is lying to all of them”. Talia quit her job and before leaving town, when she went to collect her last paycheck she ran into Emily. She told her she had come out to her husband and was kicked out of the house.

Appearances:

7 episodes. Recurring Season 5

Female love interests:

Emily Fields (Shay Mitchell, lesbian, regular)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

Male love interests:

Eric Mendoza (Matt Marquez, guest, 1 episode, husband)

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? Yes

Filter Relationship Arc:

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.

Quotes

One company dropped its advertising for our show in one of the early seasons, because they didn’t agree with the relationship. And I was like, “No shit, our relationship is illegal!” And Marlene said, “No, it’s not yours, it’s Emily’s relationship [that’s the problem].” So I could be seen as a statutory rapist, and people are like, “I know, but love knows no bounds, as long as there is a penis and a vagina involved.”

Well, I felt terrible that people were so upset about Maya’s death. It was an important part of the storytelling, though, and important for Emily’s character to have to deal with that. I don’t really regret it, but it’s unfortunate that people were personally so upset about it.

— Vulture, Showrunner Marlene King when asked if she had any regrets.Marlene KingJanuary 12, 2016